This 1/72 scale kit comes from a well-known Italian model company called Italeri. Personally I’ve enjoyed building most of their kits but this is not one of them. The pros for this kit are as follows: You have five paint schemes to choose from and the one I did is on the cover of the box called Short Stirling Mk.III L J525, EX-R “Jolly Rodger” RAF 199th Squadron, North Creake AB, UK 1944. The other four versions are; Short Stirling Mk.III L J542, “Gremlin Teaser” RAF 199th Squadron, North Creake AB, UK 1944, Short Stirling Mk.III EF497, “Lulu” RAF 90th Squadron, Wratting Common AB, UK August 1943, Short Stirling Mk.III BK714 RAF 149th Squadron, Mildenhall AB, UK 1943, and Short Stirling Mk.III EF403/G RAF 1660th Conversion Unit, Swinderby AB, UK September 1943. All five versions are in full color with every view possible. The decals were very easy to take off the paper and apply them to the kit. You do have options in regards to having the landing gear, bomb bay doors, and the fuselage door open/extended or closed/retracted. I had my landing gear extended, fuselage door closed, and bomb bay doors opened.
The cons for this kit are as follows: Most of the photo-etched pieces were too thin and too small to work with so I didn’t use most of them. The assembly for the landing gear was not well defined and more of a hassle to work with than it has to be. There were also some poor fits elsewhere on the aircraft.
In conclusion, I give this kit a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5. Italeri if you’re reading this I highly regret to inform you that this is one of the worst kits I’ve worked on from you. I highly suggest that you hardly ever use photo-etched pieces in your future kits as well as improving the quality of your pieces so that perfect fits can be achieved.